Trump rants that Letitia James just wants to 'steal my money!'
Former President Donald Trump came up with a new accusation to hurl at Attorney General Letitia James just days before his $464 million civil fraud judgment is due.
"Applying the proper Statute of Limitations wipes out @ [sic] $350 Million of the Judgment," Trump declared in a Truth Social post Wednesday. "The Attorney General wants to abuse her power to steal my money!!"
Trump leans on a plethora of angry adjectives — crooked, biased, absurd, in competent, and outrageous all make an appearance — as well as an argument New York City judge Arthur Engoron shut down at the outset of the former president's months-long civil court trial.
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The "statute of limitations" ruling Trump refers to is likely the New York appeals court decision from June 2023 stating the Attorney General's office could only pursue claims on action taken after 2014.
While Trump told reporters in October that this ruling effectively killed James' case, Engoron clarified the next day Trump had misinterpreted the law, the New York Post reported at the time.
"As I stated yesterday, the statute of limitations bars claims," Engoron told the court, "not evidence.”
Trump also failed to mention the same ruling rejected his bid to dismiss James' case completely.
The former president's claim that James is trying to rob him also presents several problems. Foremost, as Trump has filed a motion to appeal the judgment, the cash will be held by the court and not in any individual's coffers. If Trump were to win an appeal, the money would be returned.
Secondly, as was made apparent in Trump's Monday request to stay the payment as he pursues appeal, whether or not the former president has the cash to "steal" remains entirely uncertain.
Roughly 30 insurers refused to cover the bond Trump has been ordered to submit by March 25, and as MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin noted Wednesday, the former president has large outstanding loans on landmark properties that include Trump Tower.
Trump was found liable for fraud in 2023, before the trial began. He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and raised accusations of election interference, charges parallel to those he faces in Washington D.C. and Georgia.
"They do not care about the Law, the facts, or anything, but tying up my money," Trump wrote Wednesday, "and interfering in the Election."